Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, Bethesda, MD United States.
Center for Biobehavioral Health, Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Department of Pediatrics, College of Medicine, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH United States.
Dev Cogn Neurosci. 2020 Apr;42:100768. doi: 10.1016/j.dcn.2020.100768. Epub 2020 Feb 10.
Adolescence is a sensitive period for the development of adaptive social behaviors and social anxiety, possibly due to aspects of brain development. However, research is needed to examine interactions among age, social anxiety, and social dynamics previously shown to influence neural responding. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study examines brain function in 8-18 year-olds with varying levels of social anxiety. Interactions are examined among age, social anxiety, and two key task factors: valence and predictability of social interactions. Results demonstrate age, social anxiety severity, and each of the two key task-based factors interact to predict neural response in the caudate, middle and superior temporal gyri. In particular, among adolescents less-than 13 years of age, higher social anxiety predicted greater responding to unpredictable negative evaluations. However, in this same age group, the opposite pattern emerged during receipt of unpredictable positive evaluations, with less neural response in more anxious youth. Adolescents aged 13 and older overall showed less robust effects. We discuss these findings in terms of age- and anxiety-related differences in socioemotional processing.
青春期是发展适应性社会行为和社交焦虑的敏感时期，这可能与大脑发育的某些方面有关。然而，需要研究来检验先前被证明会影响神经反应的年龄、社交焦虑和社会动态之间的相互作用。目前的功能磁共振成像 (fMRI) 研究检查了具有不同社交焦虑程度的 8-18 岁儿童的大脑功能。研究考察了年龄、社交焦虑以及两个关键任务因素（社交互动的效价和可预测性）之间的相互作用。研究结果表明，年龄、社交焦虑严重程度以及这两个关键基于任务的因素中的每一个都相互作用，从而预测尾状核、中颞回和上颞回的神经反应。特别是，在年龄在 13 岁以下的青少年中，较高的社交焦虑预测了对不可预测的负面评价的更大反应。然而，在同一年龄组中，在接受不可预测的积极评价时出现了相反的模式，焦虑程度较高的青少年的神经反应较少。年龄在 13 岁及以上的青少年总体表现出较弱的影响。我们根据与年龄和焦虑相关的社会情感处理差异来讨论这些发现。
